In the first weeks of life, a human embryo transforms from a ball of identical cells into an organised structure with distinct tissues—and this process often goes wrong, causing pregnancy loss. Researchers aim to build the first detailed map of how human embryos develop immediately after implantation, a stage that has been largely invisible because it occurs inside the womb. Using new lab techniques that grow embryos in culture beyond implantation, they will track how embryonic and supporting tissues signal to each other to coordinate cell fate and shape changes. They will also create embryo-like structures from stem cells to study self-organisation principles. This is fundamental science: it addresses a basic gap in understanding normal human development. If successful, the work could explain why many pregnancies fail at early stages, potentially informing fertility treatments or diagnostic tools. But the primary outcome is a deeper knowledge of the embryo’s hidden architecture—a foundation that may, over time, lead to unexpected clinical applications.
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Mammalian embryogenesis entails close partnership between embryonic and extra-embryonic tissues to regulate changes in embryo architecture and developmental potency. We aim for an integrated view of how these events progress hand in hand during key stages of mouse and human embryogenesis. The first architectural changes of the embryo are polarisation and compaction that trigger the separation of embryonic and extra-embryonic lineages. Yet their own trigger remains unknown. We will dissect potential triggering pathways and through genetic manipulations determine their importance for cell fate. Embryo remodelling at implantation is intimately associated with pluripotent-state transitions. We will harness our novel techniques for embryo culture throughout implantation to uncover mechanisms behind these events in relation to signalling partnerships between embryonic and extra-embryonic tissues. By arranging partnership between embryonic and extra-embryonic stem cells in 3D-culture we have recapitulated embryo-like morphogenesis and spatio-temporal gene-expression. We will characterise tissue interactions in such stem cell-derived embryos to understand principles of self-organisation. Our work established an unprecedented opportunity to study human early post-implantation embryogenesis in-vitro. We will build the first morphological and transcriptional atlas of human development beyond implantation. This will bring understanding of normal development and shed light upon why many pregnancies fail at early stages.
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